Project Officer - Campus Services - 97761 - Grade 6

Department: Accommodation and Community

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £27,924 to £30,497, with potential progression once in post to £34,304.

Grade 6

Full Time / Permanent

Closing date: 16th November 2021

Information about Student Accommodation

Student Accommodation is part of the Campus Services directorate at the University of Birmingham. The majority of student accommodation has been developed or refurbished over the last 10 years at an investment in excess of £100m. The University of Birmingham currently provides accommodation for c6000 students who are predominantly 1st year undergraduate and postgraduate students, the vast majority of 2nd and 3rd year students live in the neighbouring community in private sector housing.

Further information on Student Accommodation can be found on our website at www.birmingham.ac.uk/students/accommodation .

The Living team is responsible for the delivery of an efficient accommodation service to all students and staff members of the University of Birmingham. The team play a major role in ensuring that university owned and managed bed spaces are fully occupied and that excellent customer care is provided at all times, with Student Accommodation often being the first point of contact a prospective student has with the University. Living also provides advice, information and support to students living in the private sector and is a liaison point for matters relating to the local community.

Job Summary

The post holder will deliver a range of projects to ensure that the service remains relevant and innovative, in order to continue to attract a high calibre of student to the University and provide customer excellence throughout the student journey. This role represents an exciting opportunity to develop our work across Accommodation Services within the context of a constantly evolving sector.

The Projects Officer is responsible for delivering enhancements to the application process and other digital processes within StarRez, the accommodation management system. The Projects Officer also delivers digital projects that span the wider Accommodation Services team to implement enhancements to a range of residential services, with the aim to provide a first class experience for students living within our accommodation.

The post holder will lead on a range of projects for Living, who manage student accommodation applications and allocations, and for Community Living, who provide a wide range of services for the local community. Day to day activities will include, project co-ordination, implementing developments to systems in order to enhance the student experience, content creation and development and reporting on performance using analytics.

Projects may include but are not limited to; StarRez Integrations, CX Journey, Supporting with Stars+, Implementation and integration of the StarRez Application, Self-Selection, Portal X development as well as a Chatbot project.

The Projects Officer, Student Accommodation will report to the Student Accommodation Manager, and will work closely with colleagues across Accommodation Services.

Campus Services (CS)

Employing approximately 1000 staff, the Campus Services (CS) team is made up of a group of diverse and dynamic, forward thinking individuals, contributing towards enhancing the student, staff and visitor experience at the University of Birmingham. CS provides round the clock services, including sports facilities, catering, cleaning, conferencing, day nurseries, student housing, transport and security.

Main duties

Performance and Resource Management

• To manage and develop new and pre-existing online resources and customer-facing tools.

• To create and deliver engaging presentations to a range of internal and external audiences.

• To monitor information and communications, monitor customer feedback, conduct regular control checks and report on results including KPIs.

• To work with colleagues from a range of areas across the University to identify priorities that will maximise results, and allocate resources effectively to ensure work is delivered on time and to a high quality.

• To identify and maximise opportunities to engage students with the services offered across Student Accommodation, and contribute to ensuring that that these services meet and preferably exceed student expectations.

Managing Systems and System Developments

• To keep abreast with technological enhancements within StarRez, the Accommodation Management system to optimise existing functionality and streamline processes.

• To implement and develop the new modules and functionality within StarRez and other systems used by student accommodation.

• To maintain and develop all the existing features of the StarRez, including Portal X, Data Subs, Self-Selection and advanced reporting.

• To manage the online accommodation application process and conduct an annual review of the application portal content, recommending ideas to management to improve the student experience.

Communication

• To act as a liaison between teams both within Accommodation Services and with other areas across the University, to ensure excellent communication between services.

• To develop and refine methods of gaining feedback from stakeholders and customers, embed service enhancements and feed back to customers and stakeholders. This will include offering and seeking constructive feedback from colleagues across a range of areas.

• To use a range of communication and influencing skills and strategies, and adapt communication for a range of different audiences, including occasionally challenging audiences, in order to gain commitment to projects from colleagues within and outside of Accommodation Services.

• To operate in an open, constructive and positive manner, dealing with conflict positively and establishing common ground to build effective relationships on.

Leading Change

• To lead on and manage a variety of projects that drive forward change and developments to processes, system enhancements, software and product releases.

• To remain adaptable and flexible when faced with change:

  • Tailor communication appropriately during change.

  • Communicate with colleagues, students and other stakeholders in a sensitive manner.

  • Reprioritise workload when new opportunities are identified.

  • Identify new opportunities to add value to Student Accommodation and Campus Services.

• To identify, understand and articulate how and why change is needed, and contribute to a shared sense of purpose amongst colleagues across the University.

• To analyse existing practices across Accommodation Services and interfacing areas, offer constructive feedback, identify opportunities for developing existing and new ways of working, and facilitate change through a strong understanding of culture and ability to influence others.

• To plan and implement the strategic digital objectives for Living and Community Living, including identifying stakeholders and measurable benefits, managing timelines for delivery, user testing, launch and full evaluation of each project including providing feedback and KPIs as required.

• To plan and implement the requirements of digital projects for the wider Accommodation Services team as agreed by management.

• To oversee the Community Living website’s strategic functionality and content as agreed by the Community Engagement Manager.

Strategic Thinking and Perspective

• To conduct research across the sector to establish key trends and benchmark the service in order to identify new developments that can be implemented within Accommodation Services, and understand factors impacting upon student accommodation and other areas within the HE sector.

• To develop a communications and engagement strategy in line with departmental and University level priorities, then formulate and deliver operational plans to implement this. This will include working with other areas to join up communications across the student journey.

• To identify, develop and deliver initiatives and projects that broaden and complement the current work undertaken by Living and the wider Accommodation Services team, and enhance the student experience.

• To support the accommodation management team in reviewing service provision for students. This will include submitting proposals for enhancements to Accommodation Services and interfacing areas in order to continuously develop the service students receive.

• To identify, develop and implement innovative projects and opportunities in order to remain competitive within the sector and ensure the service is attractive and informative to students.

Leading People

• To build highly effective relationships with colleagues across Campus Services and the wider University, inspiring confidence and support from key stakeholders.

• To act as a role model by operating in congruence with the purpose, strategy and values of the team, Campus Services department and the wider University.

• To effectively manage stakeholder relationships, positively respond to challenges and influence others to enable the successful implementation of operational plans and projects.

• To support cross-area working, identifying and pursuing opportunities for colleagues across the University to work together to achieve common goals.

• To demonstrate commitment to equality and diversity and make significant contributions to the building of understanding, consensus and commitment in project/working groups in order to develop work across Accommodation Services and the wider University. 

• To provide support, assistance and constructively challenge ideas as appropriate, demonstrating ability to build effective relationships where constructive challenge is welcome and feedback is valued, in order to constantly develop and deliver excellent services and initiatives.

Organisational Understanding

• To demonstrate understanding of how work across Accommodation Services and interfacing areas contributes to the overall student experience.

• To identify and act upon opportunities to improve the experiences of people interacting with Accommodation Services, including those looking to live, or currently living in student accommodation.

• To demonstrate sensitivity to and knowledge of wider political and organisational priorities beyond Accommodation Services.

• To attend key University events, represent Campus Services when required and to monitor University and other relevant stories in the local, national and international press.

• To abide by the University Health and Safety policies, University financial policies and all other University policies and procedures including those relating to IT and data protection.

• To undertake project work for Campus Services on specific initiatives/projects, and to represent Accommodation Services on related University-wide working groups and committees. 

Skills and experience

• Experience of working in projects, customer service, account management or a systems administrator role, ideally within a student-facing environment.

• Educated to degree level and/or hold equivalent experience/qualifications suitable for the nature and capabilities of the role. 

• Experience in the formulation, project management and successful delivery and evaluation of new initiatives and system enhancements in a multi-stakeholder environment.

• Experience of working with and development of sophisticated IT systems, especially SQL server databases and Cloud based systems.

• Excellent time management skills and the ability to manage several different areas of work concurrently.

• Experience of working with key stakeholders and effectively managing stakeholder relationships.

• Experience of public speaking and presenting at medium to large-scale events and to senior stakeholders.

• Ability to work proactively and to develop projects, initiatives and opportunities in line with the overall aims of Accommodation Services and the wider University.

• Understanding of the key accommodation priorities of prospective and current students, and the challenges and priorities of the HE and private accommodation sectors.

• Understanding of the UK system of Higher Education and the application process.

• Educated to degree level and/or hold equivalent experience/qualifications suitable for the nature and capabilities of the role. 

• Ability to interpret and analyse data effectively to help influence decision making.

• Have excellent literacy and numeracy and excellent spoken and written English. 

• Ability to recognise exciting opportunities for developing the remit, a real ‘can do’ attitude and a desire to be ‘the best’ in what we do. 

• Proven ability to work professionally while under pressure to meet strict deadlines, and to be adaptable and flexible when faced with change.

• Approachable and friendly with the ability to deal with challenging circumstances calmly and professionally when they arise.

• Strong team player who is highly professional, customer focused and welcomes a challenging environment.

Further Detail

• Your approach to the role and hours of work will be flexible and as required to meet the demands of a business that can have a changeable pattern across the year.

• During business critical periods the post holder may be required to work anti-social hours including weekends, bank holidays and University closed days.

• All post holders are expected to take their main annual leave period when the business needs permit and in agreement with the relevant line manager.

Informal enquires to Sarina Dosanjh. Email: [email protected]

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working